[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 72 (Tuesday, May 12, 2015)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E679-E680]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 STOP WARRANTLESS SEARCHES ON AMERICANS

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. TED POE

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                         Tuesday, May 12, 2015

  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, nearly two years have passed since a 
then-unknown 29-year-old nerd-turned-international fugitive aired the 
NSA's dirty secrets to the world. Edward Snowden is no patriot. 
However, the alarming information about the NSA's abuse of power he 
revealed cannot be ignored. Until Snowden, most Americans were unaware 
that their own government was trampling on their Fourth Amendment 
rights. Most people did not know their every move could be tracked by 
Big Brother. They trusted that this agency acted purely in the interest 
of national security to keep us safe. Not only were Americans in the 
dark on this, but so were many Members of Congress (including myself) 
who voted for legislation that NSA then used and abused to conduct its 
rogue activities.
  Post 9/11 and with two ongoing wars, many believed that government 
surveillance--including warrantless searches and seizures--was limited 
to foreign nationals, not American citizens.
  That would be consistent with federal law and the Constitution. But 
this did not happen. For example, NSA uses Section 215 of the Patriot 
Act. The Patriot Act permits targeted surveillance when that 
surveillance is justified by a court. Instead, NSA collects bulk meta 
data--such as surveillance of phone numbers in whole zip codes or phone 
carriers. These Soviet Style dragnet tactics went far beyond the scope 
of what Congress authorized in Section 215 of the Patriot Act. 
Government simply cannot disregard the law just because it is 
inconvenient.
  We also now realized that the agency has misused and expanded the 
intent of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act 
(FISA). NSA uses Section 702 as a means to gather not only data but 
content and to allow law enforcement to later search this data for 
information about American citizens without a warrant. Because it 
gathers and searches content of individual communications, Section 702 
is more intrusive than Section 215. FISA permits the collection of such 
data of a suspected agent of a foreign power, but the federal 
government is also storing and later searching the content of emails, 
text messages and phone calls of American citizens--all without a 
warrant. In the course of this collection, the data of American 
citizens, many of which have done nothing wrong or illegal, gets 
collected.
  That kind of reverse targeting of American citizens is not what 
Congress intended, is inconsistent with the Constitution and must stop.
  The NSA has claimed it has no interest in monitoring the activity of 
``ordinary'' Americans. My response to that is simple: then don't do 
it. But, most Americans have a hard time accepting that line. They 
question that for the simple fact that had Edward Snowden not revealed 
what was really going on within NSA in the first place, this snooping 
and spying would still be going on in the dark shadows of government 
operations. And, equally important, they know that this snooping and 
spying is still going on today.
  It's time for Congress to rein in this blatant violation of the 
Fourth Amendment and stop the warrantless searches of Americans. This 
issue--protecting the Fourth Amendment--has unified liberals and 
conservatives. This week, Congresswoman Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA), 
Congressman Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), and I introduced the End 
Warrantless Surveillance of Americans Act. The bill would prohibit 
warrantless searches of government databases for information that 
pertains to U.S. citizens. It would also forbid government agencies 
from mandating or requesting ``back doors'' into commercial products 
that can be used for surveillance.
  The legislation mirrors an amendment we offered to the USA Freedom 
Act, which was backed by a broad bipartisan coalition including Members 
of Congress and outside groups across the political spectrum.
  The USA Freedom Act that passed out of the Judiciary Committee last 
week is an improvement over current law and a step in the right 
direction. But we can do more to protect the Fourth Amendment. In 
addition to stopping bulk data collection, Congress should also act now 
to fix the other loophole and stop warrantless searches under Section 
702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Failure to 
address this gaping loophole in FISA leaves the constitutional rights 
of millions of Americans vulnerable and unprotected. This bill also 
ensures that the federal government does not force companies to enable 
its spying activities. The NSA has and will continue to violate the 
constitutional protections guaranteed to every American unless Congress 
intervenes. Until we fix this and make the law clear, citizens can 
never be sure that their private conversations are safe from the eyes 
of the government.

[[Page E680]]

  Last year the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed similar 
legislation as an amendment to DOD Appropriations.
  Congress should do all that it can to reform our national 
intelligence agencies and to protect the constitutional rights of all 
Americans, including passing this legislation to close the loophole and 
ensure that the NSA abides by the letter and spirit of the law. It is 
our duty to make this right and ensure that the Fourth Amendment rights 
of the people we represent will no longer be trampled on by the NSA.
  And that's just the way it is.

                          ____________________